


40 Hours

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Books, Coming Out, Crushes, Dancing, Earth, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, Lance (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, M/M, Mutual Pining, Oblivious, Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Prom, Rivalry, School, School Dances, lance lives with his aunt, what even are feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-01 23:19:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11496891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It's the last month of Highschool and Keith is just about ready to leave until he finds out that he can't graduate until he completes 40 hours of community service. Luckily, his school's prom committee is starting up late this year and they have lots of work to do! Unluckily, his rival- who he's had a massive crush on for the better part of four years- is part of this committee. Will Keith collect his hours in peace?No.





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy this work! I wrote the first chapter all in one night so it's going to be great... definitely... yes  
> rated T because there is swearing.

Lance McClain, Lance McClain.

 

Lance McClain was popular (and gorgeous,) great with girls (and guys, if the rumors were true,) and a star student. He was friendly with everyone and had a tight knit circle of friends from almost every social group. He was on the swim team, in drama club, and was the school’s vice-president. Everyone at the school knew and admired him.

 

Keith had been in love with Lance since grade 9. They had been assigned as lab partners (cliche alert) before the administration figured out that Keith was particularly useless in that subject (he was useless in most subjects according to the administration) and “encouraged” him to take more art courses (Keith was good at art, that was something at least.) During that time they had formed a bit of a rivalry (despite supposedly being teammates.)

 

Keith, surprisingly enough, won that competition. He and Lance had gotten almost the same mark on their course work, but Keith was one percent higher and therefore won bragging rights (and an unrelenting rival for the rest of highschool.) The course was in the second semester, and there was no time to meet up with other students after exams (the marks were sent in the mail) so Lance never found out that Keith had failed the final (well, not failed, just forgotten to show up.)

 

Now, in the final stretch of their senior year, Keith Kogane and Lance McClain were staring each other down once again.

 

“Well, if it isn’t my sworn enemy,” Lance said “I didn’t think I’d see you here. You have to prove that you’re better than me in everything, huh?”

 

Keith rolled his eyes. Since he and Lance never had any classes together the rivalry had turned into an artistic one; who could make the best painting, who could draw the most realistic apple. Of course Keith almost always won (he wasn’t useless in art,) but Lance really brought his failure upon himself seeing as he would have beaten Keith if it had been literally anything else. 

 

“This is so stupid Lance, why do you do this to yourself?” Keith asked, hoping it would get the rise out of Lance that he expected. 

 

It did.

 

“Who are you calling stupid, stupid?” Lance exclaimed. He fumed for a minute before his expression changed. “But actually,  _ you _ joining prom committee?”   

 

“Heh, yeah that,” Keith said, blushing a bit “Can I have the sign up sheet?”

 

Lance smirked and picked up the clipboard, placing it out of Keith’s reach. “Not until you tell me why you’re here. It wasn’t to see me was it? I mean, I know I’m beautiful but…”

 

“Fine,” Keith spat, turning bright red “I um… forgot to complete my community service hours and I can’t graduate until they’re done.”

 

Lance fell silent for a minute before his face broke out into a full fledged grin. “Wow you actually are an  _ idiot _ , Kogane!” 

 

***

“Keith Kogane, Keith Kogane,” Mr Wimbleton-Smyth murmured as he flipped through a box of files on his desk. Keith felt a sense of dread as he waited for his success in life so far to be read out loud.

 

“Keith Kogane, there you are!” Mr. Wimbleton-Smyth exclaimed, pulling out a folder with Keith’s name written across it. He had a strange accent (and bright orange hair) and Keith had never thought he’d hear his name with that tone of voice.

 

“What do we have here my boy?” The man opened the file and started looking through it. “You have all your credits in line, a 70% average, passed your literacy exam, math exam, you seem to be all set for graduation.”

 

Keith felt the nervousness he’d had all day fade and he gave Mr. Wimbleton-Smyth what was almost a smile. The man smiled back, then looked back down at his folder.

 

“Actually I was wrong,” he said “You don’t have your volunteer hours in place.”

 

“What?” Keith demanded, the dread returning.

 

“Volunteer hours, you need 40 to earn your diploma.”

 

Keith had forgotten about those.  _ Shit. _

 

“There isn’t any way I can, you know, get those waved?” Keith ventured, just to be shut down.

 

“No can do son,” Mr Wimbleton-Smyth said “40 hours is a requirement for graduation.”

 

_ Shit shit shit.  _

 

“You still have a month before the year ends. It will be a bit intense, but I know students who have finished them in less time than that.”

 

“Can you, I don’t know, write me a referral? Get me a placement somewhere?” Keith asked.

 

His counselor thought for a minute before nodding his head and smiling. “While I can’t write you a referral since I don’t know you in that capacity, there is one place for you to get your hours!”

 

Keith spread his arms and raised his eyebrows as if to ask  _ “what?” _

 

“Prom committee!” Mr Wimbleton-Smyth exclaimed “They don’t usually write down how much work you do, but technically it is community service. If you help out with every single sub-committee you should be able to complete your hours.”

That option wasn’t the most appealing for Keith. He barely knew anyone at the school and planning wasn’t his strong suit. He wasn’t even planning on going to prom.

 

“Is there any other option?” Keith asked.

 

“I’m sorry my boy, but this is the only one I can offer. Try to go to any other place and the application process itself will be longer than you have!”

 

When Keith didn’t say anything in reply, Mr Wimbleton-Smyth’s expression softened. “It’s not that bad, really. The first meeting is today. The head of the committee is actually my kid. Well, not really my kid, but I take care of her. Allura, do you know her?”

 

Keith nodded. It was hard  _ not  _ to know Allura.

 

“Well, go to room 108 after school today, that’s where it’s being held. Tell Allura I sent you.”

 

“OK, I’ll do that, I guess. Thanks Mr Wimbleton-Smyth,” Keith said, getting up.

 

“Oh, call me Coran!” the counselor called as Keith walked out of his office.

 

***

 

“Alright everybody!” Allura exclaimed “Who’s excited for prom?”

 

There were a few half-hearted cheers from the group in front of her, most of them from Lance and his best friend Hunk.

 

“Well that… could have been better. Anyways, we cut the time super short this year because of the, well you all know, incident…”

Everyone nodded knowingly, and a few pretended to wipe away tears. 

 

“But anyways, let’s all try to work through that and make this the best year yet!”

 

Lance and Hunk cheered again and Keith noticed Allura give them a thankful smile. “I’m going to pass around a list with the different sub committees, I want you to write your name in any one that you’re interested in joining,” she continued, picking up a clipboard and handing it to the student next to her.

 

When it was his turn to write his name, Keith remembered what Coran had told him about having to help out in all the committees in order to collect enough time. He sighed as he picked up the pen and, figuring as he didn’t have much choice, wrote his name under every single heading. When he was done Keith passed it to the person next to him and leaned back in his chair. 

 

After a while Keith started to feel strange, as if someone was watching him, and looked around. Sure enough, there was Lance, staring daggers at Keith. 

 

_ “Seriously?”  _ Lance mouthed, pointing to the paper. Keith shrugged to which Lance replied “ _ Oh you are so on.” _

 

Keith then watched his so-called rival write his name into every category, just like Keith had. He finished writing with a flourish, then handed the clipboard to Hunk, staring a Keith the whole time.

 

Once the paper had been passed to everyone in the group Allura took a look at it. “Ok, well this is awesome everybody! Each sub-committee is going to meet once a week after school. It’ll go in this order: Budget, Entertainment, Bookings, Decorating, and Invitations. We’ll also meet here at lunch every Friday to talk about what we planned. Does this sound good to everyone?”

 

There was a murmur of agreement and Allura dismissed the group. As everyone started to leave Keith walked up to her.

 

Allura was by far the most beautiful girl Keith had ever seen (not that he cared that much about beautiful girls.) Keith had always thought of her as a female version of Lance, albeit less whiny and self entitled. She had tons of friends, participated in almost every school club, and was the school President. 

 

Apparently she was also somehow related to Keith’s guidance counsellor, which he had a hard time wrapping his head around.

 

“Um, hey, Allura,” Keith said once they were alone.

 

The girl smiled at him, “Hello! You are Keith, is that correct?”

 

She spoke with a clipped British accent. Keith figured the odd voices ran in the family.

 

“Er, yeah, that’s me. I was talking to your, um, dad?”

 

“-Coran? Coran is not my dad.” Allura interjected. 

 

“What is he then?”

 

“My guardian, in a way. He was my father’s lover and advisor until he passed away.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Keith said, a bit weirded out by how at ease Allura came across when talking about this.

 

The girl waved her hand, “It is no matter, but I am sorry, you were going to tell me something?”

 

“Er, yeah, so I was talking with Mr Wimb- er Coran, and I don’t have all my hours complete. I was wondering if you would write down the time I spend helping out here?”

 

Allura smiled, “Yes, of course! I can not write them myself, but I will get the staff advisor to write out hours for you. How many do you need?”

 

Keith blushed again “Well, that’s the thing, I actually don’t have any.”

 

“No hours?”

 

“None.”

 

“So you plan to collect all of them in a month?”

 

“Yep,” Said Keith, nodding. Allura was no longer smiling.

 

“Well, that will be rather difficult. I am confident you will finish your task though. You did sign up for every committee.”

 

“Yeah, Coran said that would help.”

 

“I couldn’t help but notice that Lance signed up for all of them too,” Allura remarked, a smile playing at her lips once again.

 

“Oh yeah, he’s just being extra. We have this little-”

 

“-Rivalry, I know. I trust it will not get in the way of your work?”

 

Keith shook his head “Oh, not at all. In fact, we’ll probably get more done.”

 

“That’s not what I meant,” Allura said, smiling fully now. There were a few minutes of silence until Allura lifted her bag onto her shoulders.

 

“Well, I best be going now. I’ll see you next Friday!”

 

Keith nodded, waved, and waited for her to leave. He then ran up to his locker, grabbed his things, and started to make his way home for the weekend.


	2. Week 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What time is it? Midnight.  
> How many times have I read this over? Nada.  
> How is my eyesight? Getting worse. 
> 
> If there are grammar or spelling mistakes I apologise and hope that you blame them on my poor eyesight. I need glasses. If there are any major ones please point them out!
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Monday- Budget

The first meeting of the Budget subsection of the prom committee was not going well. They had started with determining their budget (it was 0 dollars,) then figuring out how much money was needed to actually run the thing. 20 minutes later 3 people were on their phones, 2 were studying (Keith was one of them) and Pidge (one of Lance’s friends) was lying on the teacher’s desk wailing, “Why am I the only senior who can add?”

After a few minutes of this chaos, Lance (who was originally one of the people of their phones) slid up to Keith and pulled away his textbook.

“Urg, what do you want?” Keith asked, turning to face the other boy.

“Attention, mostly.” Lance said, laughing. “No, but actually I have a challenge for you.”

Keith spread his arms and raised his eyebrows, encouraging Lance to go on. 

“Ok, so, this is a disaster. How about, the person to come up with the idea that gets us out of this mess wins 10 points.”

“We were keeping points?”

“Yes. So far we’re even. But actually I have an extra point for not leaving my hours until the last minute. Are you on?”

“Make it 11 points and you have a deal.”

Lance smiled and held out his hand, which Keith took. The two shook hands for a moment (Keith couldn’t help but notice that Lance had a good handshake, but that wasn’t really a surprise) then parted. Keith pulled out a piece of paper and started to brainstorm. 

Ways to earn money:  
Bake sale  
Donations   
Stealing money from student council   
Art showcase  
Stealing money from the volleyball team   
Robbing a bank

When he had come up with a few ideas, Keith looked up and noticed Lance and Pidge talking. After a few moments of talking Pidge called for attention and everyone looked up.

“Ok, so while you guys have been… doing whatever you’re doing… Lance and Keith have been doing work. Like they’re supposed to.”

Somebody called out that Pidge hadn’t been doing anything either, but she shot them down with a look that would have made the sun cool to room temperature. Pidge then asked Lance if he’d like to share what he had.

“Right,” said Lance, smiling at the group, “I have some things that can help us fund raise. There’s a car wash, robbing a bank, hosting a garden party, selling school merchandise, and just charging a lot for admission and paying things back later.” 

Pidge nodded then turned to Keith. “What do you have,” she asked. Keith read out his list and the room was silent for a while.

“Well both Keith and Lance wrote down robbing a bank, so maybe that’s the best idea,” said a group member (probably the same one who was rude earlier.)

Pidge let out a long sigh. “Well obviously not. Does anyone else have any imput?”

When nobody said anything for a few minutes Lance raised his hand. “Well, I hate to agree with something Keith suggested, but an art showcase might be good. We have a lot of really talented artists in this school and their work could probably go for quite a bit if we targeted it at the right people,” he said tentatively (Keith wondered if he was imagining Lance’s eyes lingering on him while he talked.)

“I can talk to my teacher and see if any students in my class want to donate their work,” Keith suggested “And I’m part of the art club, so I’ll talk to some people who are a part of that too.”

“Ok, great!” Exclaimed Pidge, almost a bit too excited “I’ll let the two of you get that organised yourselves, if that’s alright. Meanwhile, can I get some people to organise a bake sale and a car wash? Those seem pretty quick and easy.”

A few people raised their hands and Pidge took down their names. When she was done Pidge started talking about how much money they would have if every initiative turned around the maximum amount of profit. Keith zoned out a bit and let his eyes wander over to where Lance was sitting. 

Lance looked nice that day (he looked nice everyday but whatever.) He was wearing a blue tank top and black jeans and (although Keith couldn’t see that well from where he was) seemed to be wearing golden eyeshadow which brought out the colour of Lance’s eyes. Keith felt his stomach flip as he thought about the fact that he would have to be working with Lance for the next few weeks. He wasn’t sure if he could manage it; not only was Lance exceedingly pretty, he also drove Keith up the wall.

Before he knew it, the meeting was over and everyone started to gather their things. Just as he was about to leave, however, Keith felt a hand on his arm and turned around. It was Lance (of course) who seemed to be blushing (but he couldn’t be, of course. People like Lance don’t blush.)  
“What do you want?” Keith asked, a bit surprised at how harsh he sounded.

“Nothing dude, calm down. I was just wondering if I could get your number so we can text about the showcase.”

“Oh,” Keith murmured and nodded, pulling out his phone. He handed it to Lance and told him to write in his number and send Keith a text. Lance obliged and after a few moments Keith’s phone went off.

“Classy,” Keith remarked once he read the text (it said, hey cute-t wanna come over and netflix and chill. YOLO, NISM)

Lance laughed (it wasn’t good for Keith’s heart.) “Well, I can’t have my parents understanding my texts. Or anyone for that matter.”

A thought passed through Keith’s head and he did something very uncharacteristic by leaning closer to Lance, quirking an eyebrow and whispering in what he hoped was a sexy tone of voice, “Oh yeah? So what exactly does this mean?”

He was pleased to see Lance turn bright red and take a step away. “Obviously ‘let’s get to work and make some money.’ Get with the kids, Keith, god.”

Keith chuckled and put his phone in his pocket. “Well, next time we text try to tone down the teen lingo a bit, I’m an old soul.”

“Will do,” Lance said as Keith walked outside. Once he was out in the open, Keith realised he had stopped breathing, took a deep breath, then ran home to scream into his pillow for half an hour.

Tuesday- Entertainment 

“I can’t believe we started planning this late. I mean, some people have already bought their dresses and we don’t know where it’s going to be. How can we sell tickets? How can we promote this thing?” The person talking was Hunk, Lance’s best friend who wasn’t the best under pressure. Lance put his arm on his friend’s shoulder and told him to breathe. 

“Look guys, entertainment is easy,” Lance told the group, “We can just make a playlist on youtube or something. People will be dancing so much they won't care what it is. And it’s pretty cheap, we’ll just steal equipment from the audiovisual club.” 

This seemed to calm Hunk down a bit, which had a positive effect on Lance too. “Maybe we can also get some student talent up there,” he suggested, “I know the film club has some old videos and lots of people here sing.” 

“Great idea buddy!” Lance exclaimed. He then faced the crowd again and asked if anyone wanted to perform. When nobody answered he turned to Keith, who was reviewing his English notes.

“Do you want to perform?” Lance asked.

Keith looked up and shook his head. “I can’t play any instruments and my voice sounds like a dead bird.” 

Lance made a tsk tsk sound and crossed his arms. “You’ll get an extra 50 points if you do it,” he said.

“Why are you the one deciding the points system?” Keith demanded, “Anyways, it would probably do more harm than good to have me perform.”

“You know I won the talent show right? I could, um, teach you if you want,” Lance suggested (Keith was definitely imagining the blush on his face when he said that.)

“I’ll let the 50 points go. I’m still ahead of you anyways.”

There was a collective “OOH BURN” from their groupmates. Keith was pretty sure that some people had caught on to their competition and that the others were just following their lead. He wondered how long it would be until everyone was invested.

The meeting wrapped up pretty quickly after that. A few people volunteered to recruit school entertainers and a few others (Keith included) volunteered to get song recommendations from people. Of course, Lance also signed up for this job (who ever gets the most songs wins!)

As people started to pack up Lance bounded towards Keith, much like he had done the other day. 

“So, Keith, did you talk to the art club about the showcase?” Lance asked.

Keith nodded. “Yeah, a few people submitted work and Mr Souza told me that we could sell leftover work from former students.”

Lance beamed. “10 points to team Kogane, I guess. But 30 points to me because not only did I plan a time and place, I also made posters.” He opened up his backpack and handed Keith a piece of paper which he looked at, impressed.

“So I’m winning right now,” Lance bragged, “But I would like help putting these up. Wanna go for a walk?”

Since Keith had nowhere to be he agreed and after the two had collected their things they found themselves walking around the school.  
***   
“So tell me about yourself, mullet-man,” Lance said after they had walked in silence for a while. 

“Er, what do you want to know?” Keith asked, touching the tips of his hair self consciously.

“What kind of music do you like, do you like to read, what books do you like, who’s your favorite author, do you have a girlfriend, what’s your family like, what do you want to be when you’re older?”

“Well, for music, I like rock, pop-punk, er hardcore?” 

Lance laughed. “You’ll be fun when it's time to talk about music.”

“Er, I guess,” Keith said “In terms of books, I like to read a bit. I mostly like sci-fi and fantasy to be honest. And my favorite author is Terry Pratchett.”

“I love Terry Pratchett!” Lance exclaimed, beaming, “I’m so glad you like reading. Almost none of my friends do, expect for Allura. Pidge is more of a computer person and Hunk thinks it’s impractical, which is bullshit honestly. You can probably tell that I love reading. I-” Lance stopped abruptly and looked at his feet, his smile fading a bit.

Keith frowned too, wondering what had happened. “What kind of books do you like to read?” he asked. 

Lance’s face brightened a bit and Keith sighed in relief. “I’ll read anything, my dude. Anything and all at once. I swear the library is like a fucking IV for me.”

“So any favorites?” Keith asked, wanting to keep the conversation going (not to mention wanting to keep that adorable smile on Lance’s face.) 

“Oh, a whole bunch! I really love Cat’s Cradle, White Teeth, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. There’s a whole lot more too. Favorite authors would probably be easier. I love Shyam Selvadurai, Toni Morrison, Vonnegut, Neil Gaiman. You might actually really like him, have you read any of his books?”

Keith shook his head. 

“I’ll bring you one tomorrow,” Lance said, pausing for a minute, “actually, can I bring you a whole bunch of books? Recommendations just keep running through my head.”

“Of course,” Keith told him, smiling. He had never seen Lance so excited before.

The two walked on in silence a bit more, Lance with a bit of a spring in his step. Once they had put up two more posters he turned abruptly to Keith. 

“You’re not done answering my questions. Do you have a girlfriend, what’s your family like, what do you want to be when you grow up?”

“Well,” Keith started, “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Oh?” Lance asked, “Why not, you’re pretty good looking.”

Keith felt his face turn red as he struggled to answer the question. Thankfully though, Lance talked for him.

“I saw you chatting up Allura the other day. Can’t blame you, she’s a total babe.”

“What? You have me all wrong, I’m not into her!” Keith spluttered, even more red than before.

“Why the fuck not? She’s hot and seems to like you.”

“Er, well,” Keith said, wondering how to phrase it. It wasn’t like he was afraid of coming out, it was just coming out to Lance that was the problem. If Lance knew that Keith was gay that might lead to Lance figuring out that Keith was gay for him, and that couldn’t happen. 

“While I do think that she’s really, er, pretty and nice and all I couldn’t really, um, develop a crush on her, because I, um… she’s not my type,” Keith finally managed.

Lance looked at him skeptically for a moment before his eyes widened and he blushed. “Oh, I get it. That’s cool.”

Keith swore under his breath and the two walked quietly a bit more.

“You were probably wondering about me,” Lance murmured after a while. Keith nodded. Lance was popular, and being popular meant that almost the entire school knew who you were dating. Or, in Lance’s case, making out with in the janitor's closet. 

“Well, the truth is…” Lance took in a deep breath “I’m just so confused. I mean… I like girls but…” with this he draped his hand across his forehead and tilted his head back dramatically, “Sometime’s I see a guy so beautiful I just have to kiss him. Intensely. In the closet.”

Keith smiled a bit at the show Lance was putting on. “If only there were some word to describe how I feel,” he continued, getting more dramatic with each word, “If only I knew where I belonged. Will anyone ever accept me? Can I ever accept myself?”

“Seriously?” Keith asked, laughing.

“No dude, I’m fucking bisexual.” Lance deadpanned, which made Keith laugh even harder.   
When he was finished Keith looked up at Lance who had a funny smile on his face. He was about to ask what was wrong when Lance changed the subject.

“So. family?”

“Er, a bit?” Keith said. Lance looked confused. “I mean, I don’t have much of one. My mom died when I was really young and my dad isn’t around much. I spend most of my time with my mom’s friend’s family.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Lance said. Keith noticed the look of pity in his eyes and felt a welt of anger bubble up. 

“Oh, fuck that,” Keith said “There’s nothing to be sorry for. I love the Shiroganes, and even if it isn’t a conventional family dynamic it works for us.”

To Keith’s surprise, Lance smiled. He had been expecting him to apologize or get angry, but for some reason this was worse. He was just about to lash out at Lance again when the other boy spoke.

“I’m actually in a similar arrangement, or at least I was,” Lance confessed “My family takes care of kids back in Cuba. We always have people coming in and out.”

“Like a foster home?”

“Kinda? It’s less official, more like really intense babysitting. People who are going away for a while send their kids to us.”

“You said that it used to be like that?” Keith asked, hoping he wasn’t pushing any boundaries. 

“Yeah, I’m staying with my aunt now.”

“Why?”

“Well, um, this is a bit embarrassing, but I’ve actually always wanted to be an astronaut or astronomer,” Lance admitted, “My parents figured there were the best chances here so they sent me to stay with my aunt.” 

Keith’s face brightened, “Hey, I want to be an astronaut too! Well, that’s my dream. I probably won’t become one because I suck at science but…”

“You gotta follow your dreams Mullet Man,” Lance said with a smile. Keith chuckled and the two boys walked on a bit more.

After a while they ran out of posters and Lance pointed down the street. “My house is right there,” he said, “I’m going to head over.”  
“Oh, ok,” Keith said, disappointed that their time was cut short.

Lance gave him an awkward side hug, which made Keith turn bright red, then ran down the street towards his house.

***  
That night at three in the morning Keith got a text from Lance that read:

“Actually thinking a bit about what I said about being bisexual… biphobia is actually a really big issue and it did take me a while to figure myself out. But anyways, thanks for walking with me and listening to me talk about books and stuff. You’re actually not the worst person. I’m still winning though. Night!”

Wednesday- Bookings

Keith’s last period class finished early, so he found himself sitting in the prom committee room before anyone else. He pulled out his textbooks and studied for a while until the bell rang. As people started to file in, Keith put away his books.

Soon enough he noticed Lance come in. The other boy’s bag looked heavier than usual and Keith asked about this once Lance had taken a seat next to him.

“Oh,” Lance said in reply, opening up his bag, “I said I’d bring you some books, right?”

Keith nodded and watched as Lance took the books out of his bag and piled them onto the desk. 

“Alright,” he said, holding up the first book, “This is ‘To Say Nothing of the Dog.’ I think you’ll like it, it’s kinda funny and absurd, a lot like Terry Pratchett.”

Lance slid the book over to Keith, who looked at the cover. He then pulled out the next one and held it up. “‘The Ocean at the End Of The Lane.’ One of my favorite books of all time. You know when you read a book and it becomes sorta like a friend or family member?”

Keith nodded.

“Well that’s what this book is like for me. Next, ‘Cinnamon Gardens.’ it’s really well written and the plot is just… yeah. And finally, ‘Annie on my Mind.’”

Lance piled the books on top of each other and slid them towards Keith who looked them over one by one. Once he was done he looked back up at Lance who turned his head away quickly, his face turning a bit pink.

“Just… um… read Annie on my Mind last, ok?”

“Sure, why’s that?”  
Lance let out a nervous laugh and said, “Oh, you know.”

Keith didn’t know, but he let it slide.

Soon enough the meeting was called to order and people began to suggest places where the prom could be hosted. The suggestions ranged from the usual (restaurants, convention halls, boats) to the very, very strange (farm, Lutheran Church (it should be noted that when asked if a different type of church would do the student who suggested this said “No”), the grocery store). All the ideas were put into a spreadsheet which the student leader filed away. The group was then told that they would decide on the venue later on.

As Keith was packing up his things Lance turned to him. “So, buddy, how’s it going with collecting art and stuff?”

“Pretty well,” Keith told him, “I’ve got lots of artwork from the club and Shiro’s mom donated some of her own art to it too.”

Lance gave Keith a curious look and Keith explained that he was staying with the family of someone named Shiro, but they hadn’t gotten to the point where Keith could comfortable refer to his parents as “mom” and “dad.” Keith braced himself for questions, but thankfully Lance just smiled in a way that almost said “it’s cool, I get it.” Keith wasn’t sure weather to attribute this to Lance’s personality, or the conversation they had the other day. 

“Well,” Lance said, “I don’t know if you read the flyer or not but the showcase is going to be next friday, at my aunt’s cafe. She’s doing a bunch to promote it, and 10% of the money has to go to the store.”

Keith winced a bit at that. “Really? You couldn’t get a place that would do it for free?”

“Dude, unless you want our classy art show to be in a church basement you’re going to have to live with it. 10% isn’t even that much, and she’s really helping with promotion.”

“Ok, fine. It’s cool,” Keith said, turning to his bag. He put the books inside it then got up to go. He and Lance walked to the door together and said goodbye before turning in opposite directions. Before he was out of earshot, however, Keith heard Lance shout, “Ten points to me for suggesting the beach by the way!”

Keith chuckled to himself, but didn’t say anything in reply.

Thursday- Decorating 

The decorating committee mostly consisted of people from Keith’s art club, so he figured it would be his favorite. He was right- when he entered the room almost everybody said hi to him, which hadn’t happened with any of the other sub committees. 

Keith noticed his acquaintance Nyma call him over. He walked next to her and took a seat.

“Hey Keith,” She said, shifting a bit so she could see better.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“So we’ve been talking, and we want you to take charge on this committee,” Nyma said, beaming.

“Really?” Keith asked, “I thought they had already chosen leaders.”

Nyma nodded, “We did, but since none of the people who signed up for leadership roles are actually, well, good at art, we thought that you might be the best person for this.”

“Well, I mean I guess I’ll do it…” Keith said, not the most sure of himself.

“Great!” Nyma exclaimed, shoving a stack of papers towards him then jumping up and running towards her friends. Keith sighed and started looking through the papers. There didn’t seem to be any important information on them so he pushed the stack to the side.

After a few minutes more people began filing in. It seemed like this committee was bigger than the other ones, and Keith was relieved when Lance finally showed up.

“I’m the leader,” Keith hissed as soon and Lance took a seat next to him.

“What?” Lance’s face fell, “That’s gotta be worth at least 20 points.”

“No, you don’t understand,” Keith mumbled, “I can’t do this. I’m not good with people.”

Lance gave him a pat on the back. “Look buddy, they put you in charge for a reason. It’s all good. And I’m sure that anyone else in this position would be just as nervous as you are.”

Keith sighed, feeling a bit better. He checked the time and noticed that it was 3:10 and that the meeting should have started 5 minutes ago. He tried calling for order a few times, but since there were so many people it didn’t do much good. Keith was just about to give up when Lance stood up and yelled “Shut the fuck up everybody!”

The staff supervisor shot Lance a dirty look and he quickly apologised, taking a seat. Keith gave him a smile of gratitude and started the meeting. 

“Ok, so we don’t know where the meeting is being held yet, but we want a theme, right? Once we figure it out we can let the people on the booking committee know and they can narrow down their options.”

A few hands shot up in the air and Keith started taking down suggestions. The most popular seemed to be community, freedom, and love, which all seemed a little vague. Once they had narrowed it down to those three Keith called for a vote. It was split pretty evenly between all the options, but community was a bit more popular so they decided to go with that. Keith then asked what kinds of things would add to that theme and the group came up with a whole list of ideas. Soon enough, they had run out of time.

Keith felt himself relax as people started to file out the door. Lance turned to him, as if he were going to say something, but froze when he noticed that Nyma hadn’t left the room yet. Keith was about to ask what was wrong when she started walking over. 

“Keith!” Nyma exclaimed, “Awesome work! I think we made a really good choice.”

“Er, thanks, Nyma,” Keith said, noticing Lance tense up a bit. 

“So, um, I was thinking, maybe you and I could meet up sometime? Get coffee and talk about prom? I know you’re heading that art show, I’d really like to know more about it.”

“Well, actually, it’s both me and Lance who are running that.”

Nyma’s face fell for a second, but she was beaming again soon enough. “Well of course,” she said, “But you know so much more about art than Lance. I mean, you are practically the leader of art club.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say-”

“-And you’re art is all over the walls.”

“So is other’s thoug-”

“Coffee?” 

“Sure?”

Nyma’s smile grew wider and she handed Keith a note with her email and phone number on it. “Text me!” She exclaimed and turned on her heal, making her way out the door.

Keith turned to Lance who had a mortified expression on his face. “No. Keith. You can’t go out with her.”

“That wasn’t her asking me-”

“Yes it was.”

“It wasn’t,” Keith contradicted immediately, “But if it was, why would that be such a bad thing?”

“Well, first of all, you’re gay.” Lance announced, a little too loudly. Keith shushed him and he lowered his voice. “Secondly, we used to date and trust me, she’s a bit…”

“What?”

“Let’s just say that by the end of the date I was tied to a tree.”

“Kinky.”

“No! In a bad way. Anyways, it doesn’t matter what she was like as a girlfriend I can’t have my-” Lance suddenly stopped, turning a strange shade of red.

“Your what?” Keith demanded but it was too late, Lance was already out the door.

Friday- Invitations

Keith was worried. During the general meeting when each committee went over what they had done that week Lance was sitting as far away from Keith as possible. Keith wrote this off as Lance wanting to spend some more time with Pidge and Hunk, but he got very worried when Lance didn’t sit next to him during the sub-committee meeting where there were almost no people. 

The invitation committee was run by a small, nervous guy who everyone called Slav. Nobody was sure if this was his real name, or even if he was supposed to be at the school. Rumor had it, he had enrolled in the 1980s and never left since, simply doing his final year over and over again. Of course this wasn’t true, but Keith found it hard to convince himself of this when he looked through his yearbook from freshman year and found Slav’s photo among the grade 12 class. 

They couldn’t do much with the invitations since the booking committee hadn’t made any concrete decisions, so most of the time was spent listening to Slav going over all the possible ways invitations could go wrong. Keith had to admit, the little guy was pretty creative. He had no idea that there were so many ways for a piece of paper to kill everyone at the school.

During the meeting Keith would try to send Lance meaningful looks every so often, saying “can you believe this?” or “Please save me.” Lance didn’t make any eye contact. 

When the meeting was over Keith was expecting Lance to bug him like he normally did when they had finished up, but the boy left the room as soon as Slav called the meeting to a close. Keith sighed, figured there was nothing he could do, and went home for the weekend. 

It wasn’t like he and Lance had been very close in the first place.


	3. Week 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are moving quickly with prom committee, but Keith and Lance still haven't made up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit shorter than the last one, sorry. I wrote it in a day! Woo Hoo! I'm sorry if it's a bit rushed,
> 
> Also just a warning, there's some talk about homophobia and coming out in this chapter so if that makes you feel bad please watch out!

Monday- Budget 

“Keith!” Nyma exclaimed, running towards him. Keith swore under his breath, it was Monday morning and he wasn’t in the mood for this. Or anything really. 

Keith had mapped out what he was going to do during the weekend after he found himself lying in bed, unable to sleep, and worrying about what had happened between him and Lance. After a lot of thought, he had developed a two step plan that involved talking to Allura and making things right again with Lance (there was an optional third step that involved him and Lance going out for coffee but Keith didn’t want to get his hopes up.) Talking to Nyma was not part of the two (or three) things Keith had planned to do.

“Keith” Nyma called again. She was now standing right in front of him, beaming. 

“Oh, uh, hey Nyma,” Keith muttered, determined to finish this conversation as soon as possible.

“You didn’t answer my texts during the weekend.”

“Yeah, sorry, I was busy.” Keith told her (which was technically true, he was busy worrying about Lance and studying for finals.)

“No biggie,” Nyma said, “I might as well ask you now then. There’s this coffee shop down the street from here that has the most amazing muffins, we should go sometime after school. When are you free?”

Keith groaned internally. The last thing he needed was an accidental heterosexual relationship to form. He also found himself unable to Nyma down. “Tomorrow?” Keith suggested, against everything that told him not to.

“That sounds great! Can I meet you there?”

“Sure. 4:30?”

“Sounds like a plan!” Nyma exclaimed as the bell rang. She blew Keith a kiss and headed off to class. 

Keith swore under his breath (again) and went to his first class, art. He was thankful that his day started with that since it was his best subject. He was also thankful because Allura’s first period classroom was right next to the art room, and he had finished his final project early. 

Once the teacher had taken attendance Keith asked if he could leave class in order to do some work for prom committee. His teacher said yes (there was no reason not to) and Keith walked next door.  
Thankfully Allura’s teacher had given the class a work period and didn’t object to her leaving (as Keith said, it was for important prom committee things.)

Allura was a bit confused as Keith lead her to the stairwell and sat down.

“What is it, Keith?” She asked, “I am assuming this is not really about prom.”

Keith noded. “Have you talked to Lance lately?” He asked.

Allura nodded and smiled a bit. “I heard the two of you are having a little lover’s spat.”

“No?”

“I should not have phrased it like that. Anyway, Lance seems to be very upset.”

“I know, do you have any idea why?”

“He seems to be jealous.” 

“Of what?” Keith spluttered. 

“You and your lady friend,” Allura said matter of factly.

“Nyma?”

“I think that is her name, yes.”

Keith sighed. “Why is he jealous? I mean, it’s not like he likes me. Or that there’s anything between us that wouldn’t make it ok for me and Nyma to date. If we were dating that is. Which we aren’t. Oh god, I’m not even-”

“It is ok, Keith,” Allura cut in, “Lance is a bit over sensitive at times. I am sure that if you were to just talk about things, it would be fine.”

Keith took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. He had realised he hadn’t been breathing right for the past few minutes. “I’ll do that. Thanks, Allura. A lot.”

Allura gave him a brilliant smile. “Any time, Keith. It is for the good of the committee after all,” she laughed.

*** 

Keith found Lance at lunch. Or, more accurately, Pidge and Hunk found Keith at lunch and yelled at him for a few minutes before telling him to work things out and pointing him in Lance’s direction. 

The boy in question was sitting by himself in the cafeteria when Keith found him. This worried Keith a bit, since Lance was almost never alone.

“Hey,” Keith said, taking a seat across from him. Lance looked up for a minute, scowled, then looked down at his food.

“Are we good?” Keith asked, knowing they weren’t. Predictably Lance shook his head.

“Look, I talked to Allura and I’m sorry about Nyma. I know it’s kinda shitty for me to be talking or… whatever I’m doing… with your ex, and trust me, I don’t like her like that. I just… don’t know how to turn her down.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “It’s not because we used to date, you idiot.”

“What’s it about then?”

“You.”

“What do you mean?”

Lance looked up at Keith, exasperated. “You mean you actually don’t know?”

Keith shook his head.

“Well, first of all, I really hate your internalised homophobia or whatever’s going on with you. It’s really fucking easy to say no to someone you have no attraction to! Just a simple ‘No, sorry, I think you’re great but I really like dick’ would do! It’s 2017, Keith. Nobody cares.”

“Well, it’s not like you’re out to everyone either,” Keith retorted.

“I’ve been trying to come out since sophomore year!” Lance exclaimed, “But because I prefer girls over boys people just fucking… refuse to accept that I experience that type of attraction too. Like, people say they’re fine with me being queer, as long as I’m queer on their terms.”

“I don’t see how my being open has anything to-”

“-And I was so happy, so fucking happy to meet someone else who seemed a least a little confident in their sexuality, and who’s actually kinda cute for once but it turns out you’re a fucking coward who can’t stand up for yourself. Do you know how important it is to me to be able to find a community? That’s why I’m so close to Pidge, sometimes I feel like she’s the only person who really gets me, and Hunk tries of course but he doesn’t really understand, and I thought it might be nice to have at least one other person that I could openly talk about this stuff with but I can’t because you’re so FUCKING CLOSETED.” With this Lance shot up and slammed his hands on the table, making his can of pop topple over. He shot Keith one last dirty look then stormed off. 

***  
The rest of the day was a bit of a blur for Keith. The only thing he could think about was what Lance said, and how he looked at him. 

It was unreasonable to expect someone to come out, Keith knew this. He had been told this over and over when he had first told Shiro and expressed his concern over coming out to his parents. Shiro told him that he didn’t owe the knowledge to anyone, that he should only tell people if he felt safe, and Keith tried to take this to heart but he could also see where Lance was coming from. 

He wasn’t quite sure what to think, but Keith did know that he felt like shit. It was scary when people yelled, and it was scary when people brought up things you didn’t always want to talk about. 

By the time prom committee came around Keith felt sick to his stomach. He considered skipping it and going home, but he knew that the extra hour of community service would do him good. 

Lance was already there when he arrived and Keith made sure to sit on the opposite side of the room. Pidge lead the meeting like last time, starting with checking in on how the bake sale and car wash were going. Some of the more pro-active students had managed to raise a hundred dollars over the weekend by washing cars and some others had a bake sale planned for Wednesday. When it came time to check in on the art showcase Lance took the lead.

“It’s going good,” he said, “We’ve already got a location and some artwork ready to go. So just… tell your friends and any rich family members you might have to go!”

Pidge smiled and turned to Keith, asking if he had anything to add. He was going to ask people to bring in some art donations, but he was cut off by Lance.

“I think we have everything covered Pigeon.”

“If you say so,” Pidge said and covered a few more points about the budget. Soon enough it was four and people started to file out.

Keith went home without saying anything.

Tuesday- Entertainment

“OK guys, congrats to you for being the most efficient committee. We’re right on track.” Hunk was speaking, and he seemed to have become much more comfortable with the group than he was last time. He still had Lance by his side, but this time it was Hunk who was doing most of the talking.  
“A few things, do we have a song list?”

A girl in the back raised her hand and told the group that she and three others had managed to talk to about half of the grade twelves about music. Hunk gave them the thumbs up then asked what they were going to do about showcasing student talent.

“Well,” Lance suggested, “The theme is community, right? So how about, instead of making it some formal thing, we just have an open mike and people can come up whenever they want. And it doesn’t just have to be music either, they can share stories or poems and stuff like that.”

“Ok, so we have the playlist in the background and whenever people want they can just let the DJ know and they’ll stop the music. Does that sound good?”

There was a murmur of assent and someone in the back stood up. Keith recognised her as Plaxum, they were in the same English class. Plaxum told everyone that she DJed in her spare time and had a good sound system. Hunk practically squealed at this and Lance gave her a high five.

“I think that’s about it everyone, you guys can go now!” Hunk said after a while. Keith was about to leave when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around, half expecting it to be Lance, but was a bit disappointed when realised it was Plaxum.

“Hey, it’s Keith, right?” She asked.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“I was just, er, wondering about you and Lance.”

“Why-”

“We’re pretty close,” Plaxum explained, “Lance is one of the only people here I feel like I can really talk to and while we aren’t best friends he still means a lot to me. And I’ve sensed a bit of a change in energy around him since yesterday. Did something happen between you?”

Keith paused, wondering how she knew that. “Er, yeah, we had a bit of an argument,” he said after a while.

Plaxum smiled, “Oh well, I hope you clear things up soon.”

Keith smiled back and noded. “Thanks,” he said, “I do too.”

***

Nyma was already at the coffee shop when Keith arrived. She smiled and waved at him and Keith felt a wave of dread come over him.

“Hey,” She said once he sat down.

“Hey.”

“Sorry, I ordered without you,” Nyma said, motioning to her coffee and muffin. 

“Oh, that’s alright,” Keith told her, “I’ll run up and get something.”

At the counter Keith order a coffee and muffin just like Nyma and tried to concentrate on making his breathing regular. Once his food came he collected it and brought it back to the table. 

“Missed you,” Nyma joked as Keith sat down and he gave out a half-hearted laugh. 

“So how was your day?” Keith asked.

“It was alright,” Nyma answered “I’m a bit stressed about exams but, you know, it’s cool.”

The two made a bit more small talk, but Keith wasn’t really paying attention to the conversation. He kept on thinking about how messed up his situation with Lance was and if there was anyway to make it better. 

“Hey, Nyma, can I tell you something?” Keith asked once their conversation had lulled. His heart was beating hard and he couldn’t breathe properly but Keith figured it was ok. He knew what to do to make things better.

“Go ahead,” His date answered.

“I’m, I, uh… look… You seem super cool and super nice and all, but I don’t think this thing, er, you and me, is going to work out. I… um… I don’t really like girls in a… romantic way?”

Keith’s heart beat harder. Nyma wasn’t saying anything.

“And I know I really should have said something sooner but I needed to know if you were cool and I know this got a bit out of hand but-”

“-Keith,” Nyma said, placing her hand on his, “It’s ok. I mean, yeah, you should have told me before we went out together, but it’s fine.”

Keith could feel himself relax and he smiled a bit. Nyma smiled back. 

“So, are we good?” She asked.

Keith nodded, “We’re good.”

Wednesday- Bookings

There was one last thing that Keith needed to do and then it would be ok. He needed to apologize to Lance. He planned to do this with a long speech and a cup of Hunk-made rice pudding bought from the bake sale. 

Keith found Lance studying in the library after the committee meeting. Nothing had happened during that time except for the student leader announcing that it was going to be in the park by the school and assigning Keith the job of talking to the park staff. After buying the apology food Keith made his way over to Lance and sat down across from him.

“What do you want?” Lance asked, looking up from his book.

“I wanted to apologise,” Keith said, sliding the pudding towards him. Lance eyed it suspiciously. 

“I talked to Nyma yesterday and I told her about me.”

Lance raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Really?” he asked.

Keith noded. “I thought a lot about what you were saying, and I guess I kinda get it. My brother is pan so I’ve always kinda… had him there with me. I’ve almost always had the kind of support you talked about. I can still get where you’re coming from though, like, sometimes I wish I had someone other than him and I- I guess I was also hoping that you and I could support each other after we had that talk. I was really sad that we lost that connection. And even more than that, I just… miss you?”

Lance smiled softly, “You miss me?”

“Well, yeah,” Keith told him, trying not to blush too hard. 

“I miss you too buddy,” Lance admitted, then reached over and took the cup of rice pudding. “I should apologize to you too, I shouldn’t have pressured you like that. I guess since I’ve been trying to be out for so long that you acting as if it didn’t matter got on my nerves a bit.”

“You don’t have to apologize, really.”

“No, no… just- look. It was pretty shitty for me to do. I’m sorry.”

Keith smiled at Lance in a way that he hoped would notify him that he was forgiven and Lance took a bit of the pudding. He immediately raised his eyebrows and blinked a few times.

“What,” Keith asked, suddenly worried, “Is it not good?”

“No, no, it’s amazing,” Lance reassured him, “It’s just that my mom always used to make this back home. It tastes exactly the same. Where did you get it?”

“Hunk gave it to me at the bake sale.” Keith said. He had told Hunk that Lance was feeling down and immediately received the cup of pudding. 

“Oh, of course,” chuckled Lance, a fond look playing over his face, “Hunk and my mom talk on the phone sometimes. He must have gotten the recipe from her.”

Keith asked Lance about his mom, which lead to him talking about his family. After countless anecdotes the librarian kicked them out and they walked as far as they could together. Then, once they had to go separate directions, Lance gave Keith a hug and whispered, “Thanks for this. I mean, for everything. You’re kinda amazing.”

The two parted ways but Keith didn’t stop blushing until dinner.

Thursday- Decorations

“So, the prom is going to be in a park. We need decorations that will fit that setting.” Keith was standing at the front of the decorations group, Lance by his side. The same thing that happened to Hunk had happened to him, he was now more comfortable in front of everyone.

“They also need to fit the theme of ‘community’,” Lance reminded everyone. Keith gave him a grateful smile. 

After a few moments of silence Nyma raised her hand. “Well, I think we should have like, a banner or something, where the ‘stage’ or whatever we use for a stage will be.”

“Like in Carrie?” Lance asked.

“There’s no banner in Carrie,” Keith told him, “It’s just some letters that say ‘senior prom’.”

“That’s in the movie, in the book they have a big background picture they colour in with pastel.”

Of course that’s something Lance would know. Someone pointed out that they shouldn’t really be gaining inspiration from a movie where almost the entire grade dies at the end, but Nyma rebutted by telling them that there wasn’t any harm done and that since it was in a park they couldn’t be locked inside and set on fire. 

“Ok, so, we’ll have a banner. Any ideas for what should be on it?” Keith asked.

A few people put their hands up and Keith wrote down their suggestions. As he was doing so, Lance leaned over and whispered, “We need a colour scheme.”

“Shit, right,” Keith swore then looked up. “What colours represent community?”

“We shouldn’t base it on colour meanings!” a student exclaimed, “We’ll end up with a bunch of random colours that don’t match.”

“Good point,” Keith admitted. “Let’s go with like, I don’t know, some pastel colours. It’ll offset the bold natural colours that will appear in the park. Does that sound good to everyone?”

The group seemed to agree so Keith moved on with the meeting. They agreed that there would be paper chains from the trees and some fairy lights strung around that would turn on when it was dark. Someone also suggested lamps covered in tissue paper to line the pathway.

“Alright everyone, next meeting we’ll decide what materials we need and I’ll go out and buy them before our meeting in two weeks. At that meeting we can start making the decorations. It might take a few hours so make sure to clear up some time then.” Keith said as people began to gather their things. Keith was also about to go when Lance came up to him. Keith was happy that Lance was back to doing that after their fight. 

“Mullet man,” Lance said “the art showcase is tomorrow.”

Keith nodded, “That’s right.”

“I’m impressed that we organised it so quickly. But, um, anyways, are you doing anything right now?”

“No,” Keith said, shaking his head.

“W-Well,” stammered Lance, blushing all of the sudden, “Do you want to come to my aunt’s cafe to check out the space?”

“Sure,” Keith said, blushing a bit as well.

***  
Lance’s aunt was a petite woman named Angela who gave Keith a strong hug as soon as they walked inside her cafe. Her store was very cozy, with curtains that tinted the light red, covered lamps, and some faint guitar music playing in the background. Angela told the two boys to sit in the corner on a couch (there were more couches than tables in the cafe) while she got them some drinks.

“This place is amazing,” Keith said once he and Lance were alone.

“I know, right?” Lance exclaimed, “It’s become like a second home, we actually live right above it.” 

Soon enough Angela came back with a tray of cups and a binder. “So,” she said, handing a mug of what looked to be hot chocolate to Keith, “We have lots of wall space, I took down the paintings I normally have up. We can move the tables out of the way and put them in the back so that people can actually move around. We can charge people a dollar fifty for a cup that they can fill with anything and keep refilling. That money goes to me though. Is there anything else we need to think about?”

Lance shook his head, “I don’t think so. Have your customers been showing interest?”

“Yeah,” Angela said, nodding, “I got a few definites and several maybies when I asked them about coming. Hopefully people will have seen the posters as well.”

“Awesome!” Lance exclaimed, “It’s going to be pretty low-budget, but we’ll still need money for food and stuff.”

“Where’s it being held?”

The three chatted a bit about prom until a customer came in and Angela had to go back to work. Lance thanked her with a kiss on the cheek then turned to Keith.

“So, have you read any of the books yet?”

Keith nodded, “I just started reading To Say Nothing of the Dog.”

“Only just?” Lance gasped, placing a hand to his chest. Keith rolled his eyes.

“Well you are I were fighting, I didn’t know if I should read them or not.”

“Were you going to use them as like, book blackmail?”

“What?”

“You know, like, if you don’t do this thing for me I’ll never give you your book back.”

“Um, no,” Keith laughed, “Has someone done that to you before?”

Lance brought his drink up to his face and shook his head, blushing.

“Oh my god, someone’s done that to you before,” Keith exclaimed, smiling to himself. That was so amazingly Lance-like and he loved it. 

“It was one time!” Lance protested, “And it was my mom’s copy so…”

Keith laughed as Lance lowered his drink. He had a bit of hot chocolate around his lips and it was doing strange things to Keith’s heart. 

“You have a little,” Keith told Lance, gesturing to his mouth and picking up a napkin. He had the intent to wipe away the chocolate for him, despite how awkward that would be, but Lance beat him to it.

“Thanks man,” he said, lifting a napkin to his mouth and getting rid of the liquid. Keith let out a soft sigh and settled back into the couch. 

The two talked a bit more, then Keith noticed it was almost time for dinner and got up to go. Lance gave him a hug, which still made Keith blush like crazy, the walked him to the door.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Mullet Man,” Lance told him.

Friday- Invitations 

The invitations sub-committee meeting went pretty much the same way as last time. Keith was sitting with Lance and Hunk this time, which was better than sitting alone, but in terms of productivity, nothing had changed. Slav was still sitting at the front of the room worrying about paper and nothing was getting done. 

“Hey,” Lance whispered after about 10 minutes of listening to the leader worry about printers, “Do you want to go now and set up the art showcase?”

“Oh god yes,” Keith replied. The two packed up their stuff and quietly as possible and slipped out the door after saying goodbye to Hunk. Thankfully they went unnoticed by Slav. 

Once they were out Keith lead Lance to the art room. The paintings were at the top of the cupboard so Keith brought over a chair. He still wasn’t tall enough to reach, so Lance went on the chair instead. 

“Shit, what do I do now?” Lance asked once he had picked up the paintings and balanced them on his head.

“Come down, of course.”

“No, dude, I’m all off centre, these paintings are heavy. What if I fall?”

Keith looked at him quizzically. Lance was only about two feet off the ground, it was unlikely that he’d hurt himself if he fell. He did notice, though, that Lance’s hands were shaking and oh, Lance is afraid of heights. 

“It’s ok dude,” Keith said, trying to make his voice soft and reassuring, “If you fall I’m here to catch you.”

Lance let out a shaky breath and stepped down, the chair wobbling a bit. Before he could put his foot on the ground, however, the chair moved and Lance shrieked. The paintings slipped from his hands as Lance started to fall. Keith sprung into action and lunged forward, wrapping his arms around Lance’s waist. 

“Hey, it’s ok, I have you,” Keith reassured him. It felt as if Lance were trying to squeeze the air out of him, but Keith wasn’t really complaining. 

“Thanks,” Lance sighed, letting go of Keith. He was still shaking a bit. 

“Are the paintings ok?”

Keith picked them up and dusted off the bottom painting with his sleeve. “There’re fine,” he reassured.

As Lance regained his composure Keith put the paintings into a big bag and slung it over his shoulder. “Ready to go?” He asked. Lance nodded and the two mode their way to Angela’s cafe.

***

At the cafe, Angela helped them put up the paintings and Keith and Lance helped her set up the drink stand. They then had about an hour to kill before it started so the two boys went outside to do some last minute marketing. 

Lance was better at talking to strangers than Keith was, but they actually worked pretty well together. Lance would lure in people by, well, being Lance, then Keith would go over the details of the event.

Of course they weren’t very effective, but they were able to convince one or two people to come. 

Soon enough it was time for people to start arriving. The two boys went back to the cafe where Angela shoved some baked goods into their hands.

“This thing goes until about midnight, you two will need to keep your energy,” she explained.

***  
People started arriving about 20 minutes after they opened the doors. They would look around, make a few remarks, and buy a drink. Nobody bought anything until about an hour in.

The first person to buy a painting was a young man with long hair and a beard. He walked up to the counter where Angela was giving people cups and asked if the paintings were for sale. Angela told him that they were and directed him to Keith and Lance who were sitting on a couch in the corner.

“Hello, are you selling these paintings?” The man asked, walking up to the two boys.

“Yes, yes we are.” Lance said, straightening up. Keith did the same, hoping it made them look more professional. 

“I’d like to buy the blue one by the washroom if that’s ok.”

Keith almost choked. That was a painting he had done. He had been expecting to sell one or two since a lot of the pictures were his, but he hadn’t expected his to sell first. Thankfully, Lance picked up on his shock and dealt with the transaction for him.

“Wonderful choice, sir, that would be thirty dollars.”

The man did a double take. “Thirty?”

“Is that too much?”

“No, not at all. That’s a steal. I’d feel bad if I only gave you that much.”

“Oh,” Lance said, pausing, “How much would you give for it?”

“At least a hundred.”

“Actually?” Keith cut in, leaning forward.

“Yeah, I love the use of colour and I can tell that the artist put a lot of work into it.”

Keith smiled to himself. “Well, if you think it’s worth that much, I’m not stopping you.”

The man smiled and asked if he could write a check. Lance nodded and wrote down the man’s name and phone number, telling him that they would call him once the painting was ready.

***  
Once one sale had been made they kept coming. The boys realised that they had severely underpriced the art, but instead of changing the prices they allowed the people buying it to decide the price themselves. While they knew that this was risky, almost everyone payed quite a bit for the paintings. 

Things slowed down around nine and Angela took the chance to give the boys some more food. The three ate together then Angela asked if Keith wanted to stay the night. He didn’t want to impose, but it was dark out and there wasn’t a direct bus route from the cafe to his house. Keith thanked Angela for the offer and called his family to let them know. 

When Keith came back there were more people than before. 

“They just got out of a play,” Lance whispered once Keith sat down next to him. Keith nodded understandingly and got ready to make more transactions.

***  
Soon enough it was midnight and Angela ushered the remaining people outside. 

“We can clean this up tomorrow morning,” She told the boys, “Let’s get you to bed.”

The three went around to the back of the cafe then up the stairs to Angela and Lance’s apartment. Their home was decorated much like the cafe.

Angela got out a sleeping bag and put it on Lance’s floor then ordered Keith to sleep in Lance’s bed. He was going to argue, but he was too tired. 

Keith fell asleep almost as soon as he lay down, comforted by Lance’s smell and the noise of the traffic outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm also going to make a playlist of music that they'll play at the dance, please leave some recommendations and I'll post the link with the next chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading the piece! I'll try to update semi-daily (and I will not flake out, I will finish this work!!!)  
> You can hit me up on tumblr if that's what you want to do: captain-iamallama1-7-130-25  
> Thanks for reading!


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